Boot rack

ABSTRACT

A RACK FOR DRIPPING OVERSHOES, BOOTS OR THE LIKE CONSISTING OF A HOUSING HAVING A BOOT-RECEIVING BASE PANEL AND AN INCLINED OVERSHOE-RECEIVING PANEL EXTENDING ABOVE THE BASE PANEL AND FIXED TO THE OPPOSITE SIDEWALLS OF THE HOUSING. THE INCLINED PANEL IS PROVIDED WITH A TROUGH-SHAPED LOWER END FOR COLLECTING THE WATER, A HOLE EXTENDS THROUGH THE LOWER END FOR DISCHARGING THE WATER INTO DRAINING MEANS PROVIDED ON THE BASE PANEL. A WATER-RECEIVING TRAY IS MOUNTED UNDERNEATH THE BOTTOM WALL FOR COLLECTING THE WATER RECEIVED THROUGH AN ORIFICE PROVIDED IN THE BASE PANEL. THE HOUSING IS STRUCTURED SO THAT A PLURALITY OF RACKS MAY BE TIGHTLY STACKED TOGETHER IN A VERTICAL RELATION AS WELL AS IN A LATERAL RELATION TO FORM A COMPARTMENTED RACK STRUCTURE.

United States Patent [72] Inventor Henri Delisle H m r H. J w.. 6 RH W n m V. B n Mam C fiww k 00 23 a 99W W ll M yo i m x 882 E 904 y 2 .1 r 6 I M t .3 n Ill. r

7895 Ave., Doucet, Quebec. Canada Ill/37 Attorneys-Charles E. Baxley, Frank M. Nolan and Thomas E.

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ll 4 82a 2 2 d 5% mm m SFJFCO N we i nd Pl Wwmm AHPP ABSTRACT: A rack for dripping overshoes, boots or the like consisting ofa housing having a boot-receiving base panel and an inclined overshoe-receiving panel extending above the base panel and fixed to the opposite sidewalls of the housing. The inclined panel is provided with a trough-shaped lower end for collecting the water; a hole extends through the lower end for discharging the water into draining means provided on the base panel. A water-receiving tray is mounted underneath the bottom wall for collecting the water received through an ori- F m m 2 m m m m m w m m m Km mm C A6 mm Rm n .l .ll. 0 mh W d 0c sum B8 UIF H H N 5 555 I [ll flce provided in the base panel. The housing is structured so that a plurality of racks may be tightly stacked together in a 21 1/41 vertical relation as well as in a lateral relation to form a com- 21 1/37 partmented rack structure.

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 600,273 3/1898 789,782 5/1905 Yates PATENTEUJu-28|9n 3587.864

sum 1 0F 4 INVENTOR Henri DELISLE PATENTEDJUHZBIQYI 35 7, 534

sum 2 OF 4 IN VENTOR Henri DELISLE PATENYEUJMQIQH 3587.864

sum 3 OF 4 FIG. 4 I 25 INVENTOR He ni'i DELISLE A TTORNEY PATENTEU JUN28 I971 SHEET 4 OF 4 INVENTUR Henri DELISLE BOOT RACK This invention relates to a rack for use, for example, in holding foot coverings such as shoes, overshoes, boots or the like. More particularly, the invention pertains to an improved rack for use in holding wet overshoes, boots or the like and in draining and collecting the dripping water.

There are many known devices for holding wet foot coverings; however, in most cases, no draining and collecting means are provided thereon to withdraw the water which drips from these coverings. The overshoes and boots are thus left in a pool of stagnant water and, for all practical purposes, never reach an entirely satisfactory dry condition.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a rack for holding wet foot coverings wherein the dripping water is drained and collected in a location remote from that where the foot coverings are positioned.

The present invention overcomes the above disadvantages by providing a rack for use in holding dripping overshoes, boots or the like which comprises, in its broadest aspect, a housing having an open front face, rear and sidewalls and a base panel; an inclined upper panel secured at its'opposite ends to the sidewalls and spaced above the base panel; and a retractable tray mounted underneath the base panel; the inclined panel having a trough-shaped lower edge to receive and carry off water dripping from overshoes or the like placed on said upper panel; the lower edge being provided with spout means extending therethrough for effecting the discharge of the water. collected therein; the base panel being provided with drainage means for draining the water dripping from boots or the like placed thereon; and the drainage means including a discharging orifice in the base panel to effect the discharge in the tray of the water collected on the base panel.

The present invention has the additional advantage of enabling the rack to be tightly connected on its sides, top and bottom to similar other racks to form a compartmented rack structure.

In order that the invention may readily be carried out, one embodiment thereof will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective side view of one embodiment of the boot rack according to the present invention adapted for use in holding overshoes, boots or the like;

FIG. 2 is an elevation view of the sidewall of the boot rack of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross section view taken along lines 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross section view taken along lines 4-4 of FIG.

FIG. 5 is a composite view of the base panel of the boot rack of FIG: 1 with the tray removed consisting, on the left side, of a top view and, on the right side, of a view from underneath; and

FIG. 6 is a cross section view, partly broken away, taken along lines 66 of FIG. 5.

FIG. I shows a boot rack, which is preferably made of plastic but not exclusively, adapted to receive foot coverings, such as shoes, overshoes, boots or the like, especially those which are wet or covered with snow or ice. The rack comprises a housing 10 consisting of an open front face and an open top face, an upright backwall 12, two upright sidewalls 14 and 16 and a horizontal base panel 18. The housing also comprises an upper panel rigidly connected to the sidewalls 14 and 16 and extending at a distance over the base panel 18 in a nonparallel relation. Panel 20 is downwardly inclined with its rear lower edge 22 adjacent backwall l2and its front upper edge 21 adjacent the open front face of the housing. A retractable water-receiving tray 23 is slidably mounted to and underneath the base panel 18.

The base panel "18 is rigidly connected to the upright sidewalls l4 and 16 by means of prongs 24 secured on one side 26 of the base panel and by means of prongs 28 on the opposite side 30 (see FIG. 5). The prongs 24 are fitted in slots 32 in sidewall 14 by first entering the head 24a of prong 24 in the larger opening 320 (see FIG. 2) of slot 32 and then lowering the neck 24b of the prong in the smaller opening 32b of slot 32. Prongs 28 are mounted in a similar fashion in slots provided in the sidewall 16. l I

The rear wall 12 is locked in substantially rigid upright relation with sidewalls 14 and 16 by means of prongs 34 fitting in slots 36 provided in walls 14 and 16 in a similar way as the engagement of prongs 24in slots 32.

Panel 20 is rigidly connected to sidewalls 14 and 16 by means of prongs 38 provided on side 40 and fitted in slots 42 in sidewall 14 in a similar manner as in mounting the base panel 18 and the rear wall 12 with the sidewalls l4 and 16. Similar prongs are provided on the opposite side 44 of panel 20 and are fitted snugly in slots 46 in sidewall 16. The base panel 18 has a top surface provided with drainage means consisting of two sloping surfaces 48 and 50 and of a channel 52 dividing the two surfaces. The surfaces are downwardly sloped toward channel 52 and are each provided with obliquely disposed spaced-apart ridges 54. Channel 52 consists of two sloping surfaces 56 and 58 downwardly converging to an orifice 60 provided in the base panel. Sloping surfaces 48 and 50, and 56 and 58 cooperate to drain the water received on the base panel to'the discharging orifice 60 while the ridges 54 prevent the boots placed on the base panel from touching the water and also from blocking the draining effect of the two top surfaces of the base panel.

"The tray 23 is retractably mounted underneath the base panel 18 for collecting the water discharged through orifice 60 (FIG. 4).

Referring to FIG. 4, panel 20 is structured to receive principally shoes or overshoes; the panel consists of a curved surface 62 having a series of longitudinal spaced-apart ridges 64 so that the overshoes do not obstruct the drainage of water in the lower. edge portion 22 of the panel. This lower edge is trough-shaped and consists of two contiguous surfaces (one of which is shown as 66) sloping down to a spout 68. Preferably, spout 68 is situated directly over the channel 52 of the base panel 18 in the area of opening 60. However, it is envisaged that the spout 68 may extend at any location under the lower edge portion 22 of panel 20; in such a case, it would be preferable to have one end of a hollow tube (not shown) connected to spout 68 and the other end lying in or over channel 52 or orifice 60. The upper edge portion 21 of panel 20 terminates with a flat surface provided with a series of recesses 72 shaped to snugly receive the upper part of the boots supported by the base panel 18 thereby preventing these upper parts to touch the drained water of the base panel.

In use, the present boot rack is adapted to receive dripping shoes, overshoes, boots or the like, to drain the dripping water and to collect the drained water. Boots are positioned preferably on the base panel and overshoes and shoes are placed on the upper inclined panel 20. The water dripping on the base panel 18 is drained by means of the sloping surfaces 48 and 50 toward channel 52 and the water receiving thereon is conveyed by sloping surfaces 56 and 58 to the orifice 60 and collected in the tray 23. Similarly, the water dripping from overshoes on the upper panel 20 slides down surface 62 to the two sloping surfaces of the trough-shaped portion of the panel and exits through spout 68 onto the base panel 18, preferably in the area of channel 52 and orifice 60.

An additional advantage of the present invention is that the housing 10 is so constructed that a member of these housings may be tightly stacked together in a vertical relation to form a compartmented rack structure. Referring to FIG. 2, sidewall 14 is provided with a series of longitudinally spaced-apart tabs 72, 74, 76 and 78 extending below the lower edge of the sidewall. These tabs are provided with inwardly curved end portions forming books 80, 82, 84 and 86, respectively. In the preferred embodiment of FIG. 2, tab 72 is aligned with tab 76 while tab 74 is aligned with tab 78. The upper edge of side wall 14 is provided with a longitudinal ridge 88 having at predeter mined intervals elongated slots 90, 92, 94 and 96 vertically aligned with books 80, 82, 84 and 86 respectively; the width of these slots should be slightly larger than that of their vertically aligned hooks. Similar tabs, hooks, ridge and slots are provided on the other sidewall 16. Racks are stacked tightly together by inserting ridge 88 of one housing between tabs 72, 74, 76 and 78 of another housing and pushing the same therebetween until the hooks 80, 82, 84 and 86 of one snap into engagement with slots 90, 92, 94 and 96 of the other.

Furthermore, a plurality of housing may be connected in a substantially rigid lateral relation. Referring to FIG. 5, by disposing prongs 24 of side edge 26 out of horizontal alignment with prongs 28 of side edge 30, a series of horizontally disposed racks may be fitted into tight engagement by having prongs 28 of one boot rack entered and lowered in slots 98 of an adjacent boot rack.

While the invention has been described above only in relation a specific form of the invention, persons skilled in the art will be aware that the boot rack may be refined and modified in various ways without departing from its scope.

I claim:

1. A rack for holding dripping overshoes, boots or the like comprising a housing having an open front face, rear and sidewalls, and a base pane; an inclined upper panel secured at its opposite ends to said sidewalls and spaced above said base panel; and a retractable tray mounted underneath said base panel; said inclined panel having a trough-shaped lower edge to receive and carry off water dripping from overshoes or the like positioned on said upper panel; said lower edge being pro vided with spout means extending therethrough for effecting discharge of the water-collected in said trough-shaped edge; said base panel being provided with drainage means for draining water dripping from boots or the like positioned thereon; said drainage means including a discharging orifice in said base panel to effect discharge in the tray of the water collected on said base panel.

2. A rack as defined in claim 1 wherein said upper panel is inclined with the trough-shaped lower edge thereof being nearest to the rear wall and the upper edge nearest to the open front face.

3. A rack as defined in claim 2 wherein the upper edge of the upper panel is provided with spaced-apart recesses for each receiving the upper portion of boots positioned on said base panel.

4. A rack as defined in claim 1 wherein said drainage means on the base panel include two inwardly sloping surfaces meeting channel means in the middle of said base panel and of a discharging orifice in said base panel; said channel means consisting of two sloping surfaces for conveying the drained water in said orifice.

5. A rack as defined in claim 4 wherein said upper panel has an overshoe-receiving surface provided thereon with downwardly extending longitudinal spaced-apart ridges for distancing the overshoes from said surface and wherein said sloping surfaces of said base panel are provided with a plurality of spaced-apart ridges for distancing said boots from said sloping surfaces.

6. A rack as defined m claim 4 wherein said spout means consist of an opening extending through said upper panel and situated directly over said channel means.

7. A rack as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said sidewalls comprises a series of longitudinally spaced-apart tabs extending below the lower edge thereof; said tabs having hook portions, and a longitudinally extending ridge at the upper edge thereof; said ridge having a series of spaced-apart slots in vertical alignment with said hook portions of said lower edge; said slots having a width slightly greater than the width of the hook portions so that a series of racks may be stacked by snapping into engagement the hook portions of one housing with the slots of another housing to form a verticalcompartmented rack structure.

8. A rack as defined in claim 1 wherein said base panel includes a series of prongs extending on one side thereof and a second series of prongs extending on the opposite side thereof, said prongs of said first series being in an nonaligned relationship with corresponding prongs of said second series; said sidewalls having a series 0 slots ad acent the opposite sides of said base panel to receive said prongs of both series so that a plurality of housings may be fitted in tight engagement to form a horizontal-compartmented rack structure. 

